Srinagar: A critically-ill couple tested positive for Covid-19 last month has shown encouraging signs of recovery after plasma therapy at SKIMS Soura.

According to officials, the elderly couple has shown positive results after receiving plasma from two doctors. However, they said, the duo was yet to recover completely.

The development came just twenty days after the official panel recommended the use of plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 patients in Jammu and Kashmir.

A senior doctor told Kashmir Reader that as part of the improvement, one of the patients was recently taken off ventilator support while the other has shown improvement in oxygen saturation.

He said the couple was admitted with chronic Covid-19 symptoms and had many underlying ailments and respiratory issues.

The patients’ son, who is a doctor at SKIMS Soura, requested plasma therapy when his parents showed no improvement through anti-viral drugs.

“The couple was administered fresh plasma donated by two doctors as an emergency treatment. The donors had already recovered from Covid-19 and volunteered to donate plasma for the elderly couple,” said an administrator.

“Although there is no authorisation from government and approval from the ethical committee of SKIMS yet to conduct plasma therapy, the procedure was done as an emergency treatment taking all related people in confidence,” he said.

Last month, a 10-member advisory panel headed by Dr MS Khuroo constituted to review the protocol, guidelines and other related issues about the treatment of Covid-19 patients recommended that plasma therapy should be started on priority basis and be carried out in a meticulous manner.

The 102-page protocol issued by the apex committee said that plasma therapy should be used as an ‘off-label’ treatment after approval at three levels including apex level advisory committee recommendations, emergency authorisation by government, and institutional ethical committee review.